Prison for real estate agent in fraud scheme

A Ramona real estate agent was sentenced to 15 months in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scam, federal authorities said.

Teresa Rose, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, was also ordered to pay more than $500,000 in restitution to victims. She was sentenced in U.S. District Court in San Diego on Friday.

Federal prosecutors said Rose took part in a scheme that inflated home prices, fraudulently mortgages and skimmed more than $1.5 million in kickbacks in 2006 and 2007.

The scam involved falsified loan applications, kickbacks and construction work that never took place on properties in Ramona, El Cajon and Washington state.

In pleading guilty, Rose admitted that she represented both the buyers and the sellers in each Ramona house sale, and that she arranged for inflated sales prices of the Ramona properties.